Rivalries: Viviane Araujo

Viviane Araujo not long ago was one of the sport’s more intriguing talents, but her growth has slowed to a crawl at the highest level.

The former Pancrase titleholder will look to keep her head above water in the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s flyweight division when she takes on Karine Silva in a featured UFC 309 attraction this Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Arajuo, 37, enters the cage with losses in three of her past four appearances. She last suited up at UFC Fight Night 235, where the Brazilian dropped a three-round unanimous decision to blue-chip Team Borracha prospect Natalia Silva on Feb. 3.

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As Araujo approaches her forthcoming clash with Silva at 125 pounds, a look at a few of the rivalries that have helped shape her career to this point:

Emi Fujino

Araujo forced a doctor stoppage against the “Kamikaze Angel” in the third round of their Pancrase 298 headliner, as she laid claim to the storied Japanese promotion’s women’s strawweight championship on Aug. 5, 2018 at Shinkiba Usen Studio Coast in Tokyo. Action was waved off 19 seconds into Round 3. Araujo called upon leg kicks, sharp combinations and stiff counterpunches at the start, a thudding overhand right often tipping her spear. Damage accumulated quickly, and it became apparent Fujino had neither the speed nor physicality necessary to deal with the Brazilian. Araujo turned up the heat with power punches and jolting knees in the second round, her opponent’s desperation deepening by the second. Early in Round 3, the referee asked the cageside physician to examine Fujino and the decision was made to call for the stoppage. Araujo arrived in the UFC a little more than nine months later.

Jessica Eye

Stinging leg kicks and thudding overhand rights carried the Xtreme Couture to a unanimous decision over Araujo as part of the UFC 245 undercard on Dec. 14, 2019 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges scored it 29-28 for Eye, who missed weight for the match by a whopping five pounds. Araujo enjoyed a strong start and executed takedowns in the first and second rounds, but she slowly ceded ground and allowed her counterpart to seize control. Eye found another gear in the middle stanza, where she backed up the Brazilian with punches and continued to target the inside and outside of the lead leg with kicks. Araujo struggled to find her bearings across the final five minutes, as Eye mixed in body-head combinations and maintained a steady pace to close it out.

Alexa Grasso

The Lobo Gym star and future women’s flyweight champion was awarded a unanimous verdict over Araujo in the UFC Fight Night 212 headliner on Oct. 15, 2022 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Scores were 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46. Grasso routinely beat the Brazilian to the punch, leaned on sharp counters and racked up points with clean punching combinations. Araujo kept a steady pace and enjoyed her share of success in the exchanges, but she had no real answer for her opponent’s volume or accuracy. She was credited with a pair of takedowns in the second round, though an inability to consolidate them with meaningful damage or positional advances likely proved costly on the scorecards. Grasso outlanded her in all five rounds.

Jennifer Maia

Timely takedowns and top control carried Araujo to a unanimous decision over the ex-Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder in their UFC Fight Night 230 co-main event on Oct. 14, 2023 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three members of the cageside judiciary scored it 29-28. Providing support for the Sodiq Yusuff-Edson Barboza headliner, neither woman offered much in the way of output in the standup department. Araujo dictated terms for much of the first two rounds, then held off a late rally from the Chute Boxe product. Maia excelled in the clinch in the third round, executed a takedown of her own and made a pass at an armbar. Those efforts ultimately failed, and Araujo made the most of the lead she built across the first 10 minutes. They combined to land just 65 significant strikes against one another.